Hungry for money. How a burger and fries takeout at Hungry Jack’s brought down $1 million faker Fat Pete and Australia’s biggest counterfeit money operation
WHEN two $50 notes were used to buy some burgers at a Sydney Hungry Jack’s, Australia’s biggest counterfeit operation began to unravel.
WHEN Nicholas Megaloudis used two $50 notes to buy some burgers and fries at Hungry Jack’s in Sylvania, Australia’s biggest counterfeit operation began to unravel.
Those two dodgy but well-made notes sparked a seven-month global investigation into the manufacturing of almost undetectable fake $50 notes and the seizure of enough polymer and paper to make $43.73 million worth of counterfeit currency.
HOW TO SPOT A FAKE: CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF BANKNOTES
By the time Australian Federal Police, NSW Police and the US Secret Service arrested the gang in November 2010, they had made close to $1 million worth of fakes, which they were distributing in Australia and America.
The Secret Service seized $375,000 in fake notes from David Higson, an Australian living in San Diego. Simultaneous raids by Federal and NSW Police seized $400,000 from two addresses in Sylvania. In all, seven people were arrested here and overseas.
Last Friday, the last person in the gang — former bikie Agapitos (Pete) Megaloudis, known to police as “fat Pete” — was sentenced to 18 months home detention.
Details of the operation that had been suppressed by the courts can now be revealed.
On seized computers, police found programs capable of producing fake $50 notes; on mobile phones there were pictures of real $50 notes and serial numbers. The fear is the files may have been passed on to other crooks.
The main players were the Sydney-based Megaloudis brothers Pete, a former Rebels bikie, his brother Nick, Bondi surf shop owner Tim Okkerse and Higson — who was jailed in the US for his part in the scheme.
Investigators have yet to determine just how much fake currency the group had distributed before their arrests but they are confident that almost all the counterfeits are out of circulation.
AFP Sergeant Neal Rogers said the operation had not been going long when authorities, including the Reserve Bank of Australia, became aware of an influx of counterfeit money.
On April 27, 2010, four days before Nick Megaloudis bought the burgers, the AFP received a report from the Reserve Bank asking it to “investigate high-quality fake banknotes’’.
At the same time, NSW Police had got wind that Pete Megaloudis — who by now had been kicked out of the Rebels — and his brother Nick had gone into the money-making business, and the pair were under surveillance.
The two investigations linked up and spent months doing covert surveillance.
They also learned of a plan by Okkerse and Higson to import $1.3 million of coke in a busted-down Mercedes Benz.
Court documents reveal Fat Pete obtained a $63,000 Roland DG LEC-300 printer in July 2009.
For the next six months the Megaloudis brothers and Okkerse were trained by the printer supplier to use the machines, and spent enormous money on cartridges, ink and polymer. They had little idea police were on to them.
On October 1, an undercover police agent met a Megaloudis associate who “sold” $500 of counterfeit 50s for $150. The gang, apparently now feeling confident of their product, stepped up production. In December, Fat Pete got a quote of $84,484.30 for more printers and supplies.
When they were delivered, he handed over a shopping bag with $79,000 cash and a blank cheque for the rest.
In August 2011, telephone intercepts heard Okkerse discussing details of visiting small tourist towns in the US to offload the currency. They also talked about other countries that could be targeted.
An associate of Okkerse had been sent to the US to off-load the dodgy dough but came unstuck when one of the notes among the $3300 he tried to pass at a money exchange was “purple’’.
“Their quality control left a lot to be desired,’’ Sgt Rogers said. “They started using cheaper inks and bad cutting equipment. Some of the notes were of exceptional quality, others not so good.’’
After the purple note episode, Higson burnt $50,000 worth of notes and intended to burn the rest when the Secret Service swooped and seized the remaining $375,000.
Earlier this year Nicholas Megaloudis was jailed for a minimum of two years and two months, and Okkerse for two years and six months.
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